The crew of the 537-foot bulk carrier Jamaica Bay contacted the Coast Guard early Tuesday morning. They reported that a 37-year-old male crew member from China was experiencing severe abdominal distress and loss of feeling in his lower extremities.

Unalaska's plastic recycling program is on hold.

Margo Peters oversees the program at the landfill for the city's scout troops. She says she decided to stop recycling because residents were throwing too much trash in with their plastic and aluminum.

Reid Brewer prepares a dead sea lion for dissection in 2012. (Courtesy of Reid Brewer)

Marine biologist Reid Brewer left town this month to take a teaching position in Sitka.

He spent almost ten years here, educating the community about ocean science through the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program, which provides for scientists like Brewer to live and work in coastal Alaskan communities.

USCG Adm. Robert Papp with Unalaska Mayor Shirley Marquardt. / Credit: Lauren Rosenthal

The highest ranking leader in the United States Coast Guard stopped into Unalaska today to talk about Arctic strategy.

Commandant Admiral Robert Papp hosted a town hall meeting with city officials and leaders from the local Native corporation. It was the first time a sitting commandant has visited Unalaska.

Papp said that’s a nod to the strategic importance of the community -- particularly, its port.

The candidates for city office are in, and there’s not a single challenger on the ballot.

Unalaska mayor Shirley Marquardt, and incumbent city councilors Dave Gregory, Roger Rowland, and Alejandro “Bong” Tungul, are all running unopposed.

Marquardt’s seeking her fourth term as mayor. City clerk Elizabeth Masoni says this is the first uncontested mayoral election in Unalaska since at least 1989.

The camp is being held on Korovin Beach in Atka. (Credit: Lauren Rosenthal)

Unangan elders and cultural experts are converging on a remote beach in Atka this week for the island’s first-ever culture camp.

"The camp’s going to focus on traditional foods, traditional boat building and basket weaving," says David Michael Karabelnikoff.

Karabelnikoff is an activist and traditional qayaq maker from Anchorage. He helped the Atka tribal council plan the event.

The BCDC's mammogram bus visited Unalaska in September 2012. (Jane Bye/KUCB)

Ferry service to southwest Alaska has been up in the air all summer, as workers scramble to fix the M/V Tustumena. A substitute ferry is scheduled to pick up some of the slack later this fall.

But as KUCB's Audrey Carlsen reports, it won’t be able to get a medical device to Unalaska that women have been expecting all year.

City council made quick work of their agenda at last night’s meeting, and focused on planning for big visits from Arctic policy groups.

Council voted unanimously to accept a $3 million legislative grant from the state of Alaska for building the new wastewater treatment plant. That money will be put directly in the construction fund. They also advanced a proposal to accept a $14,000 state grant for emergency planning at public safety.

At tonight’s meeting, city council will weigh a proposal to get more municipal services online or digitized.

The finance department is requesting $151,000 worth of new software from Tyler Technologies of Dallas. A big piece of that is a new digital record-keeping system.